Beautiful sunny day! After checking the guide books, we choose to drop the hook at Sandy Spit on the Wicomico River. Jim goes below after getting the anchor set and I continue to research the area attractions. What! How did I miss this? A winery we can dinghy to? WOW! I call them to verify their hours and I’m ready to plead my case😊
When Jim resurfaces I convince him we need to move the boat to Mill Creek. According to Skipper Bob the holding is better and, well, they are predicting storms tonight! Oh, did I mention there’s a vineyard in Mill Creek we can access by dinghy? They’re serving tapas and pizza until 4:00…what an awesome place for a late lunch!
Without too much effort, Jim agreed to pull up anchor and move to Mill Creek. We found a beautiful little secluded cove, dropped anchor and cleaned up a bit for our outing. Jim lowered the dinghy for our first dinghy excursion; how exciting!
Jim inquires about the location of the vineyard and I let him know it’s near the end of the creek (per the guidebook). We dinghy all the way to the end…and don’t find the vineyard. As we’re turning around (in the marsh), the dinghy motor dies. Jim tries to restart it, nothing. He replaces the propane canister, no luck. Okay, now we’re a mile from the boat in a dinghy with no motor.
I call the vineyard for directions and don’t get much help. “We’re near the end of the creek with houses above us, signs on the pier”. Okay, that sounds like every cove on the creek.
Jim begins to oar us the mile back out the creek. It is hot and very humid and we’re hungry. I didn’t plan well; we have no water or food with us. It was just supposed to be a short dinghy ride! After an hour of oaring in the sweltering heat, Stealaway comes into view! YEAH!! As we approach, I see a cove across the creek and suggest this might be the vineyard. Jim dutifully (but not very enthusiastically) oars us up the cove. Sure enough, right across the creek from our boat is Jayce Vineyard! Jim has been silent to this point (I think he was too winded to speak). But now he pipes up to let me know this is all my fault. If we had only come straight across the creek the dinghy motor wouldn’t have died, after all! Now I NEED a glass of wine.
We tie up to the dock, hike to the vineyard and collapse into the air-conditioned winery. We order a pepperoni pizza and 2 tastings (9 wines😊). We leave fat and happy (and with a good story to tell!)